The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development says it will use the introduction of mercury-free gold processing technologies as an opportunity to improve recovery, cut costs and professionalise artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM).
Speaking during a planetGOLD Zimbabwe Stakeholders Conference recently, Eng. Anna Nhambura said the Ministry’s focus was not only on eliminating mercury use, but also on evaluating the efficiency and commercial viability of the new technologies being introduced.
“As the Ministry of Mining and Development, the uptake of the new technologies to replace the use of mercury is also an opportunity for us to be learning and evaluating the new technology that planetGOLD Zimbabwe is going to bring into play,” said Eng. Ngambura.
She said government will assess the technologies on gold recovery rates, operating and maintenance costs and suitability for different ore types across mining operations.
“Our main focus is not only going to be for the small-scale miners to stop using mercury, but it’s also going to be on the gold recovery, operation and maintenance costs and suitability for different ores,” she said.
Eng. Nhambura said government wants to change how ASM is perceived and managed.
“We all agreed that we need to stop treating mining as just mining but as a business as well,” she said. “The ASM sector will be trained on how to be dealing with mining as a business.”
The Ministry plans to incorporate the new technologies into its existing environmental awareness campaigns. Provincial officers in provinces where the planetGOLD Zimbabwe demonstration sites will be established will be trained first, and will then cascade the training to miners.
“We’ve got provincial officers in the different provinces that this site will be in. These officers will be trained at the new site. We will be also going around to train the ASM sector on how to be using these new technologies,” Eng. Nhambura said.
She added that government will incentivise early adopters to accelerate uptake.
“There will be incentivising the early adopters of these projects. They will also then take these new technologies to other miners,” she said.
Eng. Nhambura acknowledged that cost remains the biggest barrier to adoption in the ASM sector.
“When it comes to manufacturing, it all comes down to the issue of affordability because we heard yesterday if the money is not there, then it means the miners are not interested,” she said.
She said the Ministry will work with financial institutions to ensure technologies are available to artisanal and small-scale miners at affordable prices, including through shared-use models for processing facilities.
“Maybe they can be shared use of these facilities,” she said.
Long-term sustainability will require local maintenance capacity and availability of spare parts.
“There’s going to be need for maintenance, even after the project is done, there’s going to be need for maintenance and availability of spare parts. So maybe bringing in local partners in the manufacturing of these new technologies would be a greater advantage to the sector,” she added.
The planetGold Zimbabwe project is part of a global programme aimed at eliminating mercury use in artisanal gold mining, while improving formalization, access to finance and environmentally responsible practices.
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